Bill passes in Georgia to place Ten Commandments monument at the Capital

This Ten Commandments display is located on the first floor of the Capitol with a number of other documents.Credit Michelle Wirth/WABE News

On Wednesday, the Georgia Senate passed a bill for a granite monument of the Ten Commandments to be placed at the states Capital.

The popular bill passed by a vote of 40 to 10, but there was opposition as some Senate members cited concerns over the separation of church and state.

“I think in trying to protect the separation of church and state we’ve got to be very careful" said Democratic Senate Minority leader Steve Henson.

Republican Senator John Albers responded to Hensons concerns by reciting the Preamble of the Georgia Constitution.

He also said, “Knowing that we put ‘In God We Trust’ on our money, and we are a Judeo-Christian nation, and we are proud of those beliefs, wouldn’t you further agree that if a private party wants to put a statue with private funds to honor God and his commandments that we as a legislature should support that.”

Although the bill was voted on by the Georgia House Senate, Senator Albers says it will be funded by private resources.

“There will be no taxpayer funds that go with this. This will be raised by private parties. I believe this would be an excellent addition to our Capitol grounds" said Albers .

A special committee will design and select the location of the monument which will also include the preamble to Georgia’s constitution and part of the declaration of independence.

Also approved with a vote of 49 to 1 was a bill for a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. to be placed at the Capitol. The King family, who was not originally consulted about the pending MLK sculpture, sent a letter to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal stating that they would like to be a part of the process.

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Dr. Louise E. Vincent, Ph.D has been a contributor to Examiner.com for over 3 years. She currently holds four Examiner titles, three national and one local title. She has an M.Th and Ph.D in Christian Communication. Dr. Vincent is also Global Chief Editor of the online news magazine TheAmina. She is President and founder of the Black Public Relations Society of Tampa, Inc and Black Girls Read, Inc. Please contact Louise at gospelmusicexaminer@yahoo.com.